PEWAUKEE, Wis. — Pewaukee turned out, as Derek and TJ Watt saw their jerseys retired. Badgers and Steelers, yes, but they will forever be Pirates.
"Grandpa would yell at the TV for the Packers to stop running the ball on third down. Like that was pretty much how much NFL football we watched," TJ Watt says. "We didn't really watch a lot of college until JJ got there. It was Pewaukee athletics. I mean, the ball boys on Friday nights. We just couldn't get enough of Pewaukee athletics. And I think we were just so focused on, like Derek said, it's not a cliche. We really just wanted to be those guys that played on Friday nights, to wear our jerseys proudly throughout the hall."
"My last game here as a Pewaukee Pirate? We locked arms," Derek Watt says. "That was our thing. We locked arms with the whole team, or least my senior class. And walked the length of the field and back to Amazing Grace, Amazing Grace bagpipes. In tears, because we just lost our last high school football game like it was over. And did not wanna leave the field and take our jerseys off for the last time."
A night to celebrate, but also a night of emotion, as Derek and TJ remember what the late Grandpa Watt meant, to them. "TJ and I both have carried this card from his memorial service, since he passed. And we looked at it before every single game," a tearful Derek Watt says with emotion. "I just know that he's looking down on us tonight, with the biggest smile on his face. "
And once again to emphasize how much the Watts love Pewaukee? TJ saying he wants to be a blueprint for others, to follow in his footsteps.
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